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New Jersey’s largest school system will receive nearly half a million dollars in new federal funding to strengthen reading instruction and engage families in literacy as part of a first-year $13.6 million initiative announced this week by the state’s Education Department.
Two grants will support Newark Public Schools’ literacy work, with $400,000 to update instructional materials and train teachers in evidence-based practices and $60,000 to create home-based literacy programs for parents and children under age 3.
“Literacy is the tool that unlocks the opportunities education creates for our students. These grant awards will help sustain our efforts to infuse best practices into classrooms across our state, uplifting our school communities with crucial tools and resources,” said Gov. Phil Murphy in a statement Wednesday.
The new investments come as Newark continues to face challenges in helping students recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Newark, less than 40% of the city’s traditional public and charter school students scored proficient in English language arts last year, and just under 24% did so in math, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of state test scores.
This year, 34% of students in Newark Public Schools passed the English language arts test, while 21.1% passed math, according to the district’s overview of 2025 state test scores.
The state Education Department has not yet released statewide scores for this year, which will include the latest charter school results.
The new literacy funding comes from the federal Comprehensive Literacy State Development grants, a $50 million investment to be used over five years. The grants, which will be disbursed by the state Education Department, will build upon the New Jersey Literacy Framework, the state’s new plan to refine literacy practices in schools.
That framework requires schools across the state this year to start new training on reading instruction for prekindergarten-6 staff, implement literacy screenings for students in K-3, and create reading intervention plans.
The district has said it will use Amira Learning, an AI-powered literacy screener, to help identify students who may be struggling to read, as part of the framework.
Newark charter schools also received literacy funding from the state’s new grant.
Marion P. Thomas Charter School and Philip’s Academy Charter School received $150,000 and $124,999, respectively, to hire literacy coaches.
Marion P. Thomas also received $50,000, while Discovery Charter School got $20,000, to expand reading intervention for middle and high school students.
For Newark, the new grants could mean more support for teachers and families working to help students learn to read.
School leaders in Newark identified early literacy as a key part of the city’s academic recovery plan post-pandemic. In 2023, Mayor Ras Baraka declared an urgent literacy crisis in Newark and created a 10-point action plan. The city’s public school district expanded its summer school and tutoring programs and adopted an AI tutor chatbot, and charter schools sought new partnerships to provide high-dosage tutoring in math and reading.
Superintendent Roger León has previously said that federal dollars were the district’s “saving grace” in expanding academic recovery programs, including high-impact tutoring, a research-based practice with three or more sessions per week with the same tutor in small group settings.
León has also said district teachers are providing that type of tutoring as a way to support academic recovery, but more details about those efforts have not been shared publicly.
In a statement, Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, whose district includes Newark, said she hopes that the new grants can improve classroom instruction by taking “a holistic approach to strengthening literacy – training educators to deliver effective instruction, equipping schools with evidence-based resources, and fostering meaningful familial connections through reading at home.”
Michael Duffy, president of GO Tutor Corps, a nonprofit that partners with schools in New Jersey and across the country to provide high-impact tutoring, said in a recent interview with Chalkbeat that tutoring works but added that “the question isn’t whether high-dosage tutoring can move the needle for kids, it’s who has access to it.”
Liz Cohen, vice president of policy at 50can and author of a new book, “The Future of Tutoring,” said academic recovery efforts should no longer be viewed as a short-term pandemic solution but should shape education long-term.
“It’s less about recovering now and it’s more about what do we want education to look like in the 21st century and going forward,” Cohen said.
Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
